Category: Education

Would you like to have a better grounding in Native American history? An opportunity to offer dynamic interactive workshops about Indigenous peoples’ rights in your classrooms? On Sunday March 12, 2-4 pm MOUNTAIN time, Toward Right Relationship with Native Peoples is offering its online workshop, “Roots of Injustice, Seeds of Change: Toward Right Relationship with Native Peoples.” Register here.

During this 2-hour participatory workshop,we experience the history of the colonization of Turtle Island, the land that is now known as the United States. The story is told through the words of Indigenous leaders, European/American leaders, and Western historians. We engage with this history through experiential exercises and small group discussions. And we consider how we can build relationships with Indigenous peoples based on truth, justice, and an understanding of Indigenous peoples’ collective human rights. 

This workshop is presented by Native and non-Native facilitators working together. It is appropriate for high school students and adults. Register here for the next online workshop, or contact co-director Paula Palmer (paulaRpalmer@gmail.com) for more information.

Some sample responses to recent Toward Right Relationship workshops:

From Native participants: 

“Everything that went into this experience and the presentation is so deeply meaningful.” 

“This workshop is the tool I’ve been searching for to begin imagining a new way forward.”  

“This workshop is an innovative and impactful step towards healing.”

From non-Native participants:

“This is a wonderful model for fostering conversations that lead to more understanding among peoples.”    

“I am thankful for the discomfort and what it opened up.”  

“Wow – that was an excellent workshop.  Best zoom educational experience I have had!”  

“I’ve known and thought about indigenous peoples’ history for a long time. Now what I can do is much more in the forefront of my mind.”

Tamar Ben-Simon, HHREC GenerationsForward Speaker

Thursday, February 16, 2023

6:45 PM Gathering for Family and Friends

7:00 PM Program

REGISTER HERE

Tamar Ben-Simon is the daughter of Joseph Obstfeld, a Dutch Holocaust survivor. Tamar tells the riveting story of her grandparents and her father, who was barely five years old at the time of the Nazi invasion into the Netherlands in 1940. It is a story of love vs. hate, evil vs. kindness, despair vs. hope and above all, about the few extraordinary, courageous people who stood up for their beliefs and morals and made a difference.

In 1942, the Nazis stormed Into her grandparents’ apartment in Amsterdam, and it changed their lives forever. In 1944, her father’s mother was scheduled to be sent to Auschwitz, but due to a transportation error, she arrived and was imprisoned in Theresienstadt. Her father’s father, was deemed a “Free Jew” by the Nazi regime due to being forced to work for them as a furrier, while he secretly joined the underground resistance.

Since Tamar was a young adult she has been sharing her father’s Holocaust story about the treasured family heirlooms that serve as a testament of the Holocaust atrocities and defy those that deny it.

The Vienna Master of Arts in Applied Human Rights was established in 2020 in reaction to present-day challenges generated by digitalisation, globalisation and neoliberalism. Global crises like the migration crisis, socio-economic inequalities, climate change or threats to data protection can only be exposed and confronted through an interdisciplinary discourse and an applied approach to human rights. Next to historical, political, philosophical and legal dimensions, the perspectives of arts and culture in understanding and working in human rights will enrichen this program.

Application deadline: February 26, 2023 

>> Learn more and apply

Sunday, January 22 and Saturday, Ferbruary 11, 2023

Would you like to have a better grounding in Native American history? An opportunity to offer dynamic interactive workshops about Indigenous peoples’ rights in your classrooms? On Sunday January 22 and Saturday February 11, Toward Right Relationship with Native Peoples is offering its online workshop, “Roots of Injustice, Seeds of Change: Toward Right Relationship with Native Peoples.” Register here for either program.During this 2-hour participatory workshop,we experience the history of the colonization of Turtle Island, the land that is now known as the United States. The story is told through the words of Indigenous leaders, European/American leaders, and Western historians. We engage with this history through experiential exercises and small group discussions. And we consider how we can build relationships with Indigenous peoples based on truth, justice, and an understanding of Indigenous peoples’ collective human rights. 

This workshop is presented by Native and non-Native facilitators working together. It is appropriate for high school students and adults. Register here for the next online workshop, or contact co-director Paula Palmer (paulaRpalmer@gmail.com) for more information.

Some sample responses to recent Toward Right Relationship workshops:

From Native participants: 

“Everything that went into this experience and the presentation is so deeply meaningful.” 

“This workshop is the tool I’ve been searching for to begin imagining a new way forward.”  

“This workshop is an innovative and impactful step towards healing.”

From non-Native participants:

“This is a wonderful model for fostering conversations that lead to more understanding among peoples.”    

“I am thankful for the discomfort and what it opened up.”  

“Wow – that was an excellent workshop.  Best zoom educational experience I have had!”  

“I’ve known and thought about indigenous peoples’ history for a long time. Now what I can do is much more in the forefront of my mind.”

People’s history teachers are being attacked with Red Scare tactics — their names published on lists by right-wing publications, threats of firing, and physical intimidation.

That is why we invited historian Dayo Gore to share stories from history about how to fight back. Join us on Monday, January 23 to learn about Black women radicals active in the revolutionary struggle during the Red Scare. This session is part of our Teach the Black Freedom Struggle online people’s history series.

All sessions are free. ASL interpretation and PD certificates are provided.

Learn More and RSVP

December 3, 2022 | 10:00 am to 4:30 pm | BCNY Gerry Clubhouse: 321 E 111th St, New York, NY 10029

Sponsored by Art and Resistance Through Education (ARTE), this full-day interactive, participatory arts workshop is recommended for: teachers, educators, non-profit leaders, artists, activists, social workers, youth leaders, teaching artists, and others!

Workshop registration and light breakfast will start at 9:30am. Participants will be responsible for their own lunch, but snacks will be served. As a follow-up to this workshop, we’ll be offering an optional, virtual check-in to put into practice what we’ve learned together.

For more information, including registration information, please see this website page: artejustice.org/professionaldevelopment

Gloria T. Alter and Bill Fernekes are very pleased to announce the publication of The Human Rights Imperative in Teacher Education: Developing Compassion, Understanding and Advocacy (Lanham MD:  Rowman and Littlefield, 2022). This edited volume contains contributions by a distinguished set of authors from the USA, Canada, Chile, Nigeria, and the United Kingdom, all leaders in the field of human rights education. The book combines theory and practice to help educators make human rights education (HRE) a central focus of daily educational practice and includes sample HRE units on the rights of global migrants, Indigenous peoples and LGBTQ+ communities.  A comprehensive bibliography and set of appendices provide many resources for further study and research.

Contributors to the book include current and former HRE USA Steering Committee members Gloria T. Alter (co-editor), Bill Fernekes (co-editor), Nancy Flowers, Page Hersey, Glenn Mitoma, Kristi-Rudelius-Palmer and Felisa Tibbitts as well as HRE USA Advisory Board members Abraham Magendzo and Audrey Osler.

A poster session on the book’s development and content will be presented at the National Council for the Social Studies annual meeting in Philadelphia on Friday, Dec. 2 from 11:30 am-12:30 pm at the Philadelphia Convention Center—Convention Center Reg Bridge West.  A discount flyer is attached to this email and we encourage you to consider adoption of the book for courses in teacher education programs, inclusion in college/university and school library collections, and purchase by school administrators and classroom teachers.

Download discount flyer

In celebration of Constitution Day, iCivics and the Center for Civic Education proudly launched an exciting new resource led by iCivics’ Senior Director of Partnerships and Constitutional Scholar in Residence Julie Silverbrook in collaboration with Constitutional scholar and author Linda R. Monk and Christopher R. Riano, the President of the Center for Civic Education. Funded by Kenneth C. Griffin, The Constitution EXPLAINED is an engaging new video series exploring the U.S. Constitution and reflecting on the rights and responsibilities enshrined in this seminal document. The 35 short videos dig deep into every article and amendment in straightforward and easily digestible 2–4-minute segments that provide both context and modern relevance. While the videos are geared toward middle and high school students, they can also be used by the general population as an engaging refresher. Plans for these videos include integrating them into future exhibits and other learning experiences.  Explore the Videos

Why Vote For The Planet?

When we vote for the planet, we are voting for elected officials who shape the climate and sustainability policies of our schools, communities and businesses. Each vote is a vote for climate justice that protects future generations and those most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Voters agree that in order to see systemic change locally and globally, climate justice must be addressed. In the United States:

• Communities of color are disproportionately affected by environmental hazards. People of color are more likely to die of environmental causes, and make up more than half of the population living near hazardous waste.
• Historically discriminatory housing, education, employment, and healthcare policies have all increased the inequalities that place communities of color at higher risk of dangerous climate impacts. 

LEARN MORE!